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Depart at 1955 from London's Heathrow Airport on the British Airways flight BA057 to Johannesburg.
On arrival at 0850 you will be met and transferred to the Grace Hotel where you stay for one night (bed and breakfast).
Situated in the heart of Rosebank, a secure and leafy suburb, The Grace has been designed in the neo-classical style with understated elegance, without losing personal charm. There are cosmopolitan restaurants, shops, cinemas, art galleries and craft markets all within walking distance, and there is easy access to Johannesburg's airport.
Providing exclusive, comfortable accommodation and service which is personal and efficient, there are seventy-five bedrooms, fifteen of which are suites, all decorated to the highest standard. Fine and imaginative cuisine is served in the restaurant adjoining a sunny roof garden and poolside terrace. At the pool terrace light meals, teas and drinks are served high above the hum of the streets below.
In the morning you will be met and transferred to the airport where you board the Air Botswana flight BP212 departing at 1000 to Maun. On arrival at 1140 you will be met and transferred by light aircraft to Kwara Island Camp where you stay for four nights (fully inclusive of meals and activities).
Kwara Island Camp sits in the heart of the Okavango Delta on a very large private area of land, which encompasses not only the open lagoons and shallow waterways of the Okavango, but also great expanses of savannah and forest leading to the Moremi Wildlife Reserve. Altogether the Kwara Reserve measures 1750km_ and the camp itself is hidden on a large wooded island with just four huge tents set on raised wooden decks. The view from each tent is excellent and encompasses the plains and lagoons of the delta and each has en-suite w.c. and shower, two wash basins and large bed with safari furniture and veranda.
Because the reserve has so many different types of habitat you can expect to enjoy excellent game viewing here, including sightings of big herds of plains game such as zebra, wildebeest, a variety of antelope, giraffe and buffalo. The reserve also has resident prides of lion, as well as leopard and hyena and you can also expect to see a host of smaller creatures such as warthog, baboon and, on night drives, porcupine and civet cats. Elephants are also present in large numbers and you can spend hours watching these magnificent creatures, with their complex family structures, roaming the Okavango floodplains.
You can enjoy a wide variety of game viewing activities including traditional mokoro canoeing, boating, walks with an armed guide and tracker and drives by open vehicle during the day and at night. Because of this variety and flexibility we usually recommend a stay of at least three nights here.
After your morning activity you will be transferred by light aircraft to Lagoon Camp where you stay for three nights (fully inclusive of meals and activities).
Lagoon Camp is located on the largest private game viewing reserve in Botswana - the Kwando Concession, which extends for 2320km_ and which has a private river frontage along the Kwando River extending for fifty miles. Only two camps share this immense area of prime game viewing country - Lagoon Camp and its sister camp, Lebala, which lies 35kms to the south. The Concession encompasses part of the Linyanti and Kwando river systems which includes slow flowing rivers and big lagoons leading on to areas of rich forest, ebony, marula and sausage trees. Further afield are great expanses of open grassland dotted with baobab trees with isolated waterholes.
This huge area of land supports large numbers of animals including large herds of elephant and buffalo, a wide variety of antelope including water-adapted species such as tsessebe and endangered species like roan and sable, as well as giraffe and other plains game. This is also a particularly good area of seeing predators and lion are very much in evidence, as well as leopard and cheetah. A pack of wild dog have also denned in the area for the last eight years running.
Because Lagoon Camp is set on private land you can enjoy the widest range of game viewing options here including drives by open vehicle during the day and at night when a spotlight is used to see nocturnal creatures, and you can also enjoy walking at the discretion of the guides. On these walks you are accompanied by a tracker as well as an armed guide, following the course of old elephant paths through the bush, walking along the river's banks pausing regularly to look at tracks, to learn fascinating facts about plants and to admire birds and the beautiful scenery. You can also enjoy boat rides at Lagoon Camp on the Kwando River using the camp's double-decker river boat, which is particularly good for bird watching and for watching animals as they come down to drink at sunset.
The accommodation is in eight huge tented rooms with king size or twin beds, safari furniture, en-suite flush w.c., shower and hand basins with hot/cold running water, and fine views across the lagoon. The camp has an excellent staff of guides, is very well managed and the standard of cuisine is very good indeed.
In the afternoon you will be transferred to the airstrip where you board the Air Namibia flight SW139 departing at 1545 to Windhoek. On arrival at 1730 you will be met and taken to the Heinitesburg Hotel where you stay for one night (bed and breakfast).
Heinitzburg Hotel, with its eight luxurious double rooms and three luxury suites, shows itself as the jewel of the capital city. Situated on the hills of Windhoek, on the site of the old Heinitz Castle, it commands a breathtaking view over the city. Its owner, Beate Raith, who offers friendly service of the highest standard, carefully restored the character, style and ambience of this historic castle.
The air-conditioned rooms are beautifully furnished, with four-poster beds adding to their charm, each has a television and telephone. Facilities include a swimming pool and terraced gardens from which the views of the sunset are spectacular
The castle also houses a fine collection of art, the first Karakul carpet woven in Namibia and woodcarvings by Namibian artist Dieter Aschenborn.
For dinner, the hotel runs a complimentary transfer service to the restaurant at the Furstenhof Hotel and they have a good taxi service to take guests elsewhere.
For the next four days you will stay in one of the most amazing but hauntingly beautiful places in Africa. Life on the Skeleton Coast is an ongoing struggle for survival, a coast of shipwrecks, mammal skeletons, roaring dunes, windswept plains, seal colonies and wild desolation.
Skeleton Coast camp itself is built in a sheltered bend on the dry Khumib watercourse, within the private concession of the Skeleton Coast National Park. The concession stretches from south of the Hoarusib River to Cape Fria in the north, and covers the width of the National Park. Due to restricted access very few people have visited this enchantingly desolate and windswept area.
The cold Benguela current sweeping the Antarctic allows no moisture to be picked up from it by the prevailing onshore winds, hence the very low rainfall and the desert conditions.
Skeleton Coast Camp accommodation is in a ten-bedded camp comprising of five tents with doors. Each tent has en suite facilities and the interiors are in keeping with the environment. The tents are on decking off the ground and have veranda areas, each with a private view. The main area consists of a comfortable, stylish lounge and bar, with a small library and dining area. You can also dine outside under the shelter of an aged leadwood tree.
In the morning you will be met and returned to Windhoek Airport to board a scheduled two and a half hour flight taking you in a north westerly direction over the interior plateau, and then over the striking geological features of Damaraland, flying over craters of long dead volcanoes and meteorite impact sites, and meeting the coastline at the Huab River mouth. From there you will do some low level flying along the coast as far as the Khumib River, viewing the coastal plains, dunes, seal colonies and shipwrecks from the air.
You will arrive late in the afternoon and settle into camp on the Khumib River. A short nature drive out into the desert for sundowners allows the opportunity of viewing the coming to like, at dusk, of this seemingly uninhabited area.
After breakfast you will be taken on a full day excursion in a four wheel drive vehicle that is closed to the elements, but does have 'pop up' roof to enjoy the fine weather. Your guide will provide an in depth look at the specially adapted reptiles, insects and plants that have struggled over the ages to survive in this hostile place. You will return to camp at sunset for dinner.
Over the next three days you will have nature drives and picnic lunches, visiting the clay castles of the Hoarasub, Rocky Point, the roaring dunes, lichen fields, seal colonies, shipwrecks and secret water seeps that have attracted game like oryx, springbok, giraffe, ostrich, brown hyena, jackal and other small mammals. You will also be able to walk, as many parts are accessible only onfoot. Many specially adapted species of plants such as lithops and welwitschia can be seen this way. Night walks on the plains and dunes provide the opportunity of spotting the nocturnal species.
An early morning knock on your door wakens you for a trip out to watch the sunrise over the mountains and to Sarusus Springs. After coffee and biscuits you will return to the camp for breakfast.
Depart by light aircraft to Okonjima Bush Camp where you stay for two nights (full board including camp activities).
Okonjima Guest Farm lies nestled in the unspoilt beauty of the Omboroko Mountains, in the same range as the well-known Waterberg Plateau. In the Herero language, Okonjima means place of the Baboons;.
The Bush Camp is situated three kilometres from the main lodge and offers five spacious double tents with en suite facilities.
Okonjima is the base for Africat, a group who do relocation work on big cats that have been trapped or injured on farms, and you will be shown the work they do, relocating them in the wild. Okonjima is renowned for the excellent opportunities for viewing and photographing both leopard and cheetah. Each day guest can watch and participate in the cheetah and leopard feeds.
During your stay you will have the opportunity to explore the Bushman's Trail, a unique insight into the lives of the San bush people, the traditional hunter-gatherers of the African desert.
You will be transferred by road to Windhoek where you board a scheduled flight departing at 1500 to Johannesburg. Arrive at 1650 and connect with flight BA056 departing at 2015 to London's Heathrow Airport.
Arrive at 0615 (local time).